Cardiovascular electrode catheters are used to electrically stimulate and/or monitor the heart and, in some cases, to modify heart tissue. Such cardiovascular catheters typically comprise an elongated tubular catheter body with one or more electrodes mounted at the distal end of the catheter body. Wires extend from the electrodes through the catheter body to a connector at the proximal end of the catheter body. The connector can be plugged into an electrical stimulator and/or recorder or other source of electrical energy.
The catheter bodies of such cardiovascular catheters are typically made of an inner plastic tube surrounded by and reinforced with a braided stainless steel mesh An outer plastic sleeve covers the reinforcing mesh. Such constructions generally provide high torsional stiffness, high resiliency and high flexibility, i.e. are easily bendable In fact, the resulting catheter is usually more flexible in bending than is generally desirable.
Employing less flexible plastic tends to reduce undesirable bending flexibility. However, catheters tend to lose resiliency by increasing the hardness of the plastic Accordingly, there is a need for a catheter construction which controls flexibility while maintaining resiliency.